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Pregnancy is a period during which the body goes through changes. The Baby’s health completely depends on the mother’s health. Generally, it has been observed in pregnant women that their sugar level is recorded to be high and also their body’s cells become insulin resistant.
As per a report, every 6-9% of pregnant women in the United States have been developing gestational diabetes1. If it is not get controlled or prevented during pregnancy, it will affect both your mother’s and the baby’s health.
That’s why this article is helpful for those who want to know how to prevent gestational diabetes.
For that, you have to go through this article till the end. You will get awesome updates regarding gestational diabetes, its symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment along with the ways of preventing GDM during pregnancy.2
By Elnur on Unlimphotos/Consult a professional if you develop gestational diabetes
How to Prevent Gestational Diabetes?
Generally, diabetes is the consequence of high sugar level and insulin imbalance. Different cells of the pancreas including beta cells are present in clusters called islets of Langerhans3. These cells synthesize insulin hormone which is ultimately secreted by the pancreas into the bloodstream.
This hormone helps the body’s cells to take sugar from the blood. But due to insulin resistance, body makes cells do not take blood sugar levels as a result sugar level increases.
It is is one of the most common types of diabetes that mainly occurs in women during their pregnancy. The main cause of gestational diabetes is cell insulin resistance.
The cells become insulin resistant due to the secretion of hormones by the placenta. These hormones are mainly secreted at the time of pregnancy hence they are responsible for developing gestational diabetes mellitus 4in pregnant women.
This diabetes mellitus is a condition of high blood sugar levels in pregnant women. It does not depend on whether you have any kind of diabetes mellitus before pregnancy or not; it may occur in anyone.
When a rise in blood sugar levels occurs during pregnancy, it will lead to GDM. For pregnant women, it is a point of concern as it affects their baby’s growth and development.
Does there any way through which gestational diabetes can be prevented? diabetes is not much severe but if not controlled it can lead to various health issues in the mother and baby.
Here are five amazing ways how to prevent gestational diabetes, but before that let’s see some detailed information regarding gestational diabetes.
5 Ways to Prevent Gestational Diabetes
For pregnant women, it is very essential to know how to avoid gestational diabetes for a good pregnancy. Any woman is capable of managing gestational diabetes by following these five ways.
1. Maintain a Healthy Weight Before Pregnancy
Obesity is the worst thing or the cause of many diseases. So, try to maintain a healthy weight before and during pregnancy, as well as during postpregnancy.
Most women put on weight during their pregnancy time and maintaining a healthy weight doesn’t mean dieting or lose weight. You can easily maintain your weight with slight dietary changes.
2. Do Regular Exercises
Exercise is essential for everyone, but for women with GDM little bit of physical activity is a must. Every day 30 minutes of exercise or physical activity is the way to disease control and reduce gestational diabetes.5
Some yoga poses are also beneficial to reduce the fatal effects of gestational diabetes. And remember that do exercises as per your stamina and capacity. Don’t push yourselves to do heavy exercises. Avoid such exercises in which chances of falling are there.
By MilanMarkovic78 on Unlimphotos/Regularly exercise to manage gestational diabetes.
Easy Exercises For Gestational Diabetes
- Walking
- Aerobic exercises
- Swimming
- Stationary cycling
- Dancing
Yoga For Gestational Diabetes
- Child pose
- Tadasana
- Trikonasana
- Vrksasana
- Yoga Nidra
3. Have a Balanced Diet and Healthy Eating Habits
A healthy eating plan is one of the best ways to reduce or prevent GDM. Avoiding fruit juice and bad fats from your diet plan. Always try to eat healthy foods during pregnancy.
Take each meal in little amounts with breaks and healthy fats, rather than eating whole food items in one meal. Many dietitians and nutritionists suggest whole grains and nonstarchy vegetables to women with gestational diabetes.
The reason is whole grains contain fibers in high amount and reduces the risk factors of gestational diabetes.
By Marco Verch Professional Photographer on Flickr @Some Rights Reserved
Healthy food items that will help you to avoid gestational diabetes are whole grain bread, lettuce salad, leafy vegetables, paneer, roasted seeds of watermelon and sesame, seasonal fruits with low sugar, and last one is a cup of low-fat milk at night a must.
Avoid sugary foods, sweets, and natural sugars, if you want to prevent gestational diabetes during pregnancy. Eating healthy food is not only good for your health but also for your baby’s health.
4. Monitoring Blood Sugar Levels
Gestational diabetes occurs due to increased healthy blood sugar levels. That’s why regular monitoring of blood sugar will be essential for you. If the sugar level is high then insulin injections or medications should be recommended by your doctor or gynecologist.
5. Routine Check-Up Appointments with Your Gynecologist
Last is this list of how to avoid gestational diabetes. If you are diagnosed with gestational diabetes within 2-3 months of pregnancy, then your gynecologist will recommend you come for routine checkups. You will also have been given some diabetic care supplements and medications.
Never skip your appointment with a gynecologist and diabetologist. That will ultimately be bad for the health of your baby as well as your own.
Symptoms
Although without a proper diagnosis, no one can estimate the occurrence of gestational diabetes in women. Because some pregnant women with GDM Mellitus don’t show any symptoms.
Hence, screening tests or other blood sugar level tests are a must for all women during pregnancy.
Some common symptoms of GDM are as follows;
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Weight gain
- Increased appetite
- Uncontrolled thirst
- Excessive urination
Gestational diabetes is also responsible for other complications including the risk factors of preeclampsia, high blood sugar , and macrosomia. Preeclampsia is a condition of high blood pressure that occurs only in pregnant women.
Macrosomia also happens because of the mother’s diabetes and obesity during pregnancy. As a result, the baby grows much larger than the average size. Due to macrosomia, the mother faces difficulty in delivery time cesarean will be the option for the baby’s birth.
Risk factors
The gestational diabetes risk factors of gestational diabetes are overweight, having high blood pressure, having polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), having type 2 diabetes in a family member, having gestational or any type of diabetes during a previous pregnancy, and being pregnant with more than one baby.
Most women of some ethnic groups are at higher risk of gestational diabetes. These are Asian-American, African-Americans, Native Americans, Pacific Islanders, and Hispanics. If you belong to any of these groups then you are at higher risk of gestational diabetes.
Diagnosis
Blood tests are the best ways to check blood sugar levels. Despite that, there are many other tests for the diagnosis of GDM. Some of them are the glucose challenge test (GCT), glucose tolerance test (GTT), and screening test.
The causes of Gestational Diabetes
The causes of Gestational Diabetes are not completely understood, but there are increased risk factors that appear to be associated with the condition. Some of the most common risk factors include being overweight or obese, having a family history of diabetes, eating a high-calorie diet and not exercising regularly.
If you do develop gestational diabetes, it is important to seek out medical attention as early as possible in order to improve your chances for a healthy pregnancy and delivery. Additionally, many women find that managing their glucose levels through diet and exercise can be very successful in preventing long-term complications associated with the condition.
What is the Medical Treatment for Gestational Diabetes?
Although lifestyle changes can help you a lot in reducing or preventing complications during pregnancy due to gestational diabetes. Despite that medical care and proper medication are also used for the treatment of gestational diabetes. Let’s see how to prevent gestational diabetes through medical care.
Insulin Injection
Insulin injections are recommended only when the sugar level riches to the highest level and doesn’t have the control to maintain. There are some other situations in which your doctor will give you insulin injections, these such as;
- A high increase in sugar level
- Due to the side-effect of oral medications
- The large size of baby
Insulin intake increases with an increase in the time of pregnancy, as blood glucose levels increase with pregnancy progress. It will help in lowering the blood sugar level.
Oral Medication
Even after the lifestyle changes, eating healthy foods, and doing exercises your sugar level is still at a high level then consider oral medication. Doctors or gynecologists recommend you take oral pills including Metformin, Micronase, Glynase, and Portamento. Well, these drugs are not effective in every woman with gestational diabetes. That’s why never take any pill without the recommendation of your doctor.
According to the American diabetes association, around 10% of American women are suffering from gestational diabetes every year. Through a healthy diet, healthy lifestyle, and most important your doctor’s guidance, you will cure the complication of gestational diabetes during your pregnancy.
Bottom Line
Along with controlling your sugar intake, you must also make sure to work out regularly and eat healthy to prevent this condition from developing in the later stages of pregnancy. Managing gestational diabetes will help make sure you have a healthy pregnancy and a stay healthy baby. If you have been diagnosed with gestational diabetes, taking precautions from healthcare professional can also lead to a lower glucose level.
- Catalano, P. M. “Trying to understand gestational diabetes.” Diabetic Medicine 31.3 (2014): 273-281. ↩︎
- Wang, Chen, et al. “A randomized clinical trial of exercise during pregnancy to prevent gestational diabetes mellitus and improve pregnancy outcome in overweight and obese pregnant women.” American journal of obstetrics and gynecology 216.4 (2017): 340-351. ↩︎
- Da Silva Xavier, Gabriela. “The cells of the islets of Langerhans.” Journal of clinical medicine 7.3 (2018): 54. ↩︎
- Alam, Uazman, et al. “General aspects of diabetes mellitus.” Handbook of clinical neurology 126 (2014): 211-222. ↩︎
- Song, C., et al. “Lifestyle intervention can reduce the risk of gestational diabetes: a meta‐analysis of randomized controlled trials.” Obesity Reviews 17.10 (2016): 960-969. ↩︎
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